Guest Review: Cellfire.com eCoupons

Thanks to Cheep Peeps member Amanda, who blogs at MomofFaith.com for sharing her experiences with Cellfire.com, a new service that lets you add coupons for shopping, restaurants, groceries, and entertainment to your cell phone or store-savings card for savings at local retailers and venues.

The first time I heard of Cellfire was “blogsurfing”, and I was intrigued. If this blogger was right here was yet another way for me to save time AND money.

Cellfire works a lot like P&G E-savers, Shortcuts, and most other loadable E-coupon sites I have seen. You log on to their website , enter your id (in this case your cell number) and password, and choose from the available coupons.

What makes this service different to me is the availability of other deals. For instance, in my area (between Louisville, KY and Cincinnati) I could choose to load one free child’s admission to the Cincinnati Zoo or 15% off any purchase/$5 off 29.99 purchase at 1-800-Flowers.com on to my phone. These deals have expiration dates just like coupons do, so you need to use them before they expire. You can load 50 offers to your phone number, this includes any coupons.

Using Cellfire with Your Store Savings Card
To load coupons to your Kroger card [also works at Ralph's, Baker's CityMarket, Dillon's, Fry's, Gerbes, Hilander, JayC, King Soopers, Owen's, Pay Less, QFC, Scott's, and Smith's] you simply input the card number in the appropriate location after you sign up. All you need to register is your cell phone number, birth year, zip code, sex, and email address. One thing to be sure of, if you live in a small town without a Kroger [or Kroger-owned store], it would be easier when registering to use the zip code of the town with the Kroger because otherwise it may not show you the available coupons.

After you register, you go immediately to “Hot Deals” and start picking out the E-coupons you want to load to your card. After picking your first coupon it will prompt you to input your Kroger card number and that’s it! After that you’re all set. You can choose to have them text or email you when new offers become available.

Using Cellfire with your Cell Phone
You can browse the deals in your area using your phone or your PC. You can also choose to get Cellfire on your phone when you register, but Alltel and Cellular South charge a 1.99 to use the Cellfire service. Data fees may be charged to your carrier, so if you don’t have an unlimited plan I wouldn’t use this often.

In order to use the other “deals”, you simply load them to your phone and when you’re ready to cash them in you show your phone to the cashier. These work exactly like Shortcuts when in the store, they come immediately off your order…no problem.

Where Cellfire works
Right now Cellfire grocery E-coupons are only available at Kroger-affiliated stores. The cashiers treat these E-coupons the same way they do all the others; if you load them online it’s less work for them. To find out if your phone is compatible with the Cellfire Express (their mobile service) click here.

Readers: have you tried Cellfire? How did you like it? If you haven't tried it, now's a great time, since you can load a coupon for $1 off Huggies or $1.50 off Huggies Supreme.

There's another new cell phone coupon service now, Ping Rewards, if you'd like to check it out. I don't know much about it yet.

Related article: Save With Kroger eCoupons @Freebies4Mom